


Somewhere

by louiscontroll



Series: One Direction One-Shots [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, M/M, Not many tags, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-01-29
Packaged: 2018-01-10 11:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1159042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louiscontroll/pseuds/louiscontroll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Everybody gets their Clock on their twelfth birthday. Except, some people don’t. Some people never get a Clock, which means they either don’t have a Soulmate or it’s impossible for them to meet. Most people who don’t get Clocks commit suicide, because they’ll be forced to live alone if they stay. Niall knows he’d be no different."<br/>***<br/>Niall and Harry both get Soulmate Clocks on their twelfth birthday, but things don't go according to plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Somewhere

"Ni! Ni! Ni!"

Louis is a ball of energy as he runs toward Niall, his face lit up with excitement. Niall’s known Louis since they were kids, and he knows that Louis is excited about everything, whether it be the weather or a football game. But this time is different, and even Niall can see that. Louis is panting, like he’s run a long way to get to Niall in order to tell him the news. 

"What is it?" Niall asked, grabbing Louis arms to stop the smaller boy from colliding into him. Niall might be a year younger, but he’s already taller. "Slow down!"

"Ni," he gasps, holding out his right arm. "It’s my twelfth birthday, Ni! I got my Clock! I got one!"

Sure enough, the new tattoo on Louis’ arm says “6.5.16.34.05” and it’s counting down, slowly, but surely. “Six years,” Niall laughs, breaking out into a smile. “You’ve only got to wait six years! That’s amazing, Lou!”

Louis hugs him in celebration. It really is amazing - most people have to wait decades to meet their Soulmate. Louis only has six years - he’ll be eighteen, a perfect age. “You’ll get yours next year,” Louis whispers into his chest, tears of pure joy seeping down his cheeks. Niall almost cries with him. 

Everybody gets their Clock on their twelfth birthday. Except, some people don’t. Some people never get a Clock, which means they either don’t have a Soulmate or it’s impossible for them to meet. Most people who don’t get Clocks commit suicide, because they’ll be forced to live alone if they stay. Niall knows he’d be no different. 

But Louis has one, and for that he’s happy. 

***

_"You got your Clock," Harry whispers, taking a deep breath, staring at Zayn’s arm. "Oh my god, Zayn, you have one! I told you! I told you! I told-"_

_"Okay, okay!" Zayn laughs, wrapping Harry into a light hug. "So will you," he says. "You’ve just got a year, right? Just a year, and then you’ll get yours."_

_"Yeah," Harry whispers, but he’s not thinking about that. If he’s honest, he doesn’t really care - he knows someone is out there, waiting for him, and they’ll meet, one day. "Do you think they’re a boy? A girl? Did they get their Clock today? Your Soulmate, I mean."_

_"I don’t know," Zayn says, the sheer happiness leaking into his voice. "I don’t know! What do you think?"_

_"I…huh," Harry sighs as Zayn takes his shoulder and leads him down the street. "I don’t know. I guess it depends on what you like."_

_"I honestly don’t think I care," he sighs, but it’s a content sigh. Zayn’s future is solidified - he has a Soulmate, and that’s all he ever wanted. "It doesn’t matter. Whoever can put up with me, whoever can accept who I am, whoever that is, that’s who my Soulmate is, and I don’t care what that looks like."_

_Harry stops asking about it when he realizes that’s entirely it._

_***_

"Your Clock, Ni!" Louis cries, a huge grin breaking out on his face. "Ni, you’ve got one! It’s counting down!"

As soon as Niall felt the telltale pain in his arm and saw the glowing numbers etched onto his skin, he ran to Louis’ house. His number read 7.3.4.9.34, which meant he only has seven years to go. It’s amazing luck, almost as lucky as Louis. “Nineteen,” Louis chants giddily, running around his house, Niall not far behind. “We’re meeting our Soulmates only a year apart! That’s…”

"The best thing that could’ve happened," Niall finishes, and they hug, much like they did when Louis got his Clock. 

Now Niall has something to live for. 

***

_"Seven years, huh Haz?" Zayn says, smiling calmly. Zayn’s always calm about these sorts of things, but he’s still staring at Harry with joy reflecting in his deep irises. "That’s lucky."_

_"Not as lucky as Jade," he counters, talking about a girl that was in his class. "She got hers a week ago, and she’s only got two years." Even though he’s talking about her, he’s still amazingly proud that he’s only got seven years to wait._

_"Yeah, but luckier than Leigh-Anne," Zayn replies, almost scolding him. "She doesn’t have one; she’s turned to a shell of what she used to be."_

_That silences Harry, until he finally says, “Do you think he’ll be blonde?”_

_"How are you so sure it’s a he?"_

_"I just know. I don’t think I like girls, you know? I mean, I don’t think I could be…happy enough with one. It wouldn’t be fair to her."_

_"Well," Zayn says, pondering. "Maybe. Does it matter?"_

_"No," Harry laughs. "I’m just saying."_

_***_

"Today’s your day, Lou," Niall praises him. "Ready?"

"No," Louis whispers, his face white. Louis is eighteen, Niall seventeen - Louis graduated about a month ago, and he’s staring university in the new semester. But today his clock is at two hours, thirty minutes, and twelve seconds. Today Louis is going to meet his Soulmate. "What if they hate me, Ni? What if I’m not good enough?"

"You’ll be perfect," Niall encourages. "They’re probably stressing out, too."

"Yeah," Louis whispers, nodding, biting his lip. "Do I look ago?"

"You’ve showered three times," Niall lists, "Changed at least five. Your hair has been in ten different styles and you’ve put on seven different pairs of sunglasses before going without any. You’ll be fine."

"You’re right," Louis says, before suddenly his body stiffens and his eyes widen, the muscles tensing. Niall doesn’t react, because he knows exactly what is happening. Everybody does the exact same thing when they meet their Soulmate for the first time, and Niall’s seen many, many people walking down the street with that purpose. 

Louis stands then, not blinking. Niall just follows because he knows Louis needs a friend. When it’s the day of meeting your Soulmate, at a certain point in the day  _this_ happens. Nobody can quite explain it, because they don’t remember it, but some sort of force drags the person to the spot they need to be. The person isn’t in control of their own actions - it’s like sleepwalking, sort of. 

Louis walks stiffly for a long time before, about half an hour later, he sits down on a bench in the park and jerks a little, letting Niall know that the episode is over. “A park, huh?” Louis whispers when he realizes what happened and how he got there. “That seems cliche.”

"You’ve got a solid two hours," Niall reminds him. "Maybe it’ll happen again. Maybe your Soulmate is taking longer to get here."

"Yeah," Louis says, and they talk for a while, before Louis’ eyes glaze over and he’s up and walking again. Niall groans slightly before getting up and following him. 

Finally, they stop on a suburban street, with nothing really important, but Louis regains control and he lets out a long sigh. “Sorry,” Louis whispers. “I know you probably have other places to be-“

"Like, what, school?" Niall scoffs. His eyes flicker to Louis’ Clock. "Lou. One minute left. Be nice." 

Niall’s only teasing, and Louis knows, because he attempts a feeble smile. “When am I not?” he says, and then Niall moves off to the side a little bit, because he doesn’t want to intrude. 

Another boy walks onto the street then, snapping out of his daze about ten yards away from Louis. “Hello,” he says, smiling. It amazes Niall how he can be so calm. “I’m Liam, Liam Payne.”

"Louis," Louis returns, shaking. "Tomlinson." Liam really is gorgeous. Louis got lucky. 

Louis flashes Niall a grateful smile and then walks towards Liam, and even as Niall’s leaving, he can’t help but wonder just how lucky he’ll be. 

_***_

_"Perrie’s a sweetheart!" Harry cries, grinning wickedly at Zayn. "She’s your Soulmate? Lucky!"_

_"She’s amazing," Zayn agrees. "More than I could’ve asked for. Probably more than I deserve."_

_Harry shrugs then, huffing a little. “Don’t say that, Zaynie. You deserve every bit of her.”_

_"I hope this is me you’re talking about," someone behind them says, and Harry turns just in time to see Perrie run up to Zayn and jump on his back, forcing Zayn to give her a piggyback ride. "Hi, Harry."_

_"Sup Perrie?" he says, still grinning._

_"Hey, Pez," Zayn laughs._

_"I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone," Harry says, and Zayn smiles at him._

_"See you after school?"_

_"Yeah, course."_

_Zayn runs off, Perrie shrieking at him to run faster. They really are perfect for each other. All Harry’s wondering now is if his Soulmate will have such a good bond with him._

_His clock says two years are left. He stops looking at it for a while as he walks across the street, ditching his first class. He really doesn’t want to take biology. He’ll make it up tomorrow._

_Something makes him look at it again as he’s walking across the road. The glowing numbers count down, almost chanting the time his life will be complete. He can’t stop studying the numbers until someone shouts, “Look out!” And then something hits his side._

_It’s all blackness after that._

_-_

_He wakes up, but he knows instantly he’s dead._

_He’s standing in the middle of a graveyard, and his tombstone is behind him. It doesn’t take long to figure it out - he’s a ghost. And his Clock is still going._

_He doesn’t have to leave his Soulmate on his own after all._

_So he waits._

_***_

"Today’s your day," Louis says excitedly, much as Niall did when Louis met Liam. The two are engaged now, and will be married in months. They’re perfect together, they really are. Niall envies their bond. 

"Thanks for taking the day off," Niall sighs. "I know exams are close-"

"My teachers let me off as soon as I told them where I was going," he assures Niall. "They understand this better than anyone; some of them are still waiting."

Niall can’t imagine that. He’s got one hour left, and he’s freaking out. He completely understands how Louis was acting when he was going to meet his Soulmate - even though he knows that they’ll like him, there’s an underlying fear that they won’t. 

His mind seems to tune out, like everything just goes dark, and then brightens and he realizes immediately he’d been in that trance-like state. Louis is still beside him, arms folded, smiling. The sun is shining. He’s in a field of some kind, with…stones…

He’s in a graveyard. “This most certainly isn’t cliche,” Louis states, nodding a little. “You’ve got a minute. But I don’t see anybody…”

"Maybe it’s a mourner," Niall shrugs. "Someone who lost somebody, grieving here." But he doesn’t see any, and the graveyard’s quite small. 

"Yeah," Louis agrees, but he looks afraid. Why is he afraid?

"Ten seconds," Niall realizes, eyes wide. "Lou, there’s no one here." As soon as he says it his brain seems to fog over and his vision grows small black spots, but he doesn’t say anything. He thinks it’s just fear. 

"Five," he whispers, barely audible. "Four, three, two, one…"

His Clock freezes on zero, just as his eyes rest on the grave in front him. ‘Harold Edward Styles,’ it reads, ‘1993-2010. He left us waiting.’ And that’s when he knows. 

"Oh my god," he whispers. "Oh my god." His heard starts thudding and blood rises to his face until the world starts to shrink. "There’s been a mistake. Lou, they made a mistake!"

"Oh, Ni," Louis gasps. Niall finds it odd how he’s the only one crying. "Ni, oh my god…"

The world’s spinning and then Niall knows that it’s not a good thing. “Lou,” he whispers then, narrowing his eyes just as his knees give way. “Lou, I think something’s wrong?”

Louis’ eyes widen and then soften, kneeling down my Niall’s side as the blonde collapses, twitching a little and then lying still on the grass. “No, Ni, it’s all right.”

***

_Harry watches as the boy dies in front of him, and then his ghost materializes beside of him. “Hello,” he says as soon as he can see the boy fully. Harry’s Clock has finally stopped. “I’m Harry.”_

_The boy looks stunned, but regains quickly, quite impressive, in Harry’s opinion. “I’m Niall…wait, Harry? The…my Soulmate?”_

_"That’s right," Harry laughs. "Sorry I died."_

_"Sorry I died," Niall says, laughing as well. He can still see Louis, but that image is fading._

_"So I guess you are blonde," Harry muses, remembering how that was his first, childhood wish._

_"Oi," Niall cries, "Dyed blonde."_

_"You’ll do," Harry says, joking, but not._

_"Where are we going?" Niall asks. He can’t see Louis anymore. Even Harry is fading._

_"Don’t know," he replies. "Somewhere."_

_Niall takes his hand and they smile. “Somewhere,” Niall repeats before everything vanishes._

_***_

"Whoever set this all up," Louis tells Liam, "Whoever did, they messed up. Harold, or whoever, died too soon. And so that’s why Niall died."

"I didn’t know they could make mistakes," Liam sighs, rubbing his thumb against Louis’ palm. "But at least they fixed it."

"I hope they’re happy," Louis says, staring out the window at the fading sun. "Somewhere."


End file.
